41
" Everyone warned me against continuing my investigation,”Gobi continued. “They said the people I was going up against were too powerful. I did not care. They said I would die. Again, I did not care. I knew that my life would mean nothing if I did not come back to avenge my sister’s honor. But by the time I was able to pinpoint who had taken her here, it was too late. She had died.”
I tried to say something, but my throat was too dry. For a second I couldn’t even swallow. My chest felt so tight that it ached, and I thought if I didn’t say something, or at least try to, I was going to explode. "
― Joe Schreiber , Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (Perry & Gobi, #1)
54
" And now,”she said, raising her hand for a cab, “your wish has been granted. You may go home and forget I ever existed.”A taxi swung up to the curb. “Whatever happens next is not on your conscience.”
“Wait,”I said. “Gobi . . .”
She leaned forward, kissing me briefly on the mouth. “Au revoir, Perry.”
“Wait,”I said.
But she didn’t.
She climbed into the taxi.
She didn’t look back. "
― Joe Schreiber , Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (Perry & Gobi, #1)
55
" I thought about Gobi and her sister and the way it had all come unraveled.
I thought about my dad.
When you’re young, you think your father can do anything. Unless he was this severely abusive person and beat you or got drunk and smashed things, you probably worshiped him. At least most of the guys I knew were like that. They might not have used those exact words, but they all have some cherished memory of something they did with their father, even if it was just a shiny, far-off moment.
I remembered being eight years old and making a Pinewood Derby car for Boy Scouts. Dad had brought out a gleaming red Craftsman toolbox that I had never seen before and helped me carve the car out of a block of wood, and we sat at the kitchen table painting it silver and blue with red flames up the side. I drank Pepsi and he sipped a beer. When we finished, the car didn’t weigh enough, so we put lead weights in the bottom and sprayed lubricant on the wheels until it rolled freely from one side of the table to the other. I won third place, and he said, “I’m proud of you.”
I remembered going fishing with him up in Maine, taking a little motorboat out across the foggy lake until it was too dark to see our bobbers.
I remembered him teaching me how to tie a necktie on the morning of my cousin’s wedding.
I remembered seeing him in the stands at my first junior high swimming tournament, standing next to my mom and cheering.
I remembered waking up very early in the morning and hearing him downstairs making coffee before slipping out to work.
I remembered the first time I ever heard him swear. "
― Joe Schreiber , Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (Perry & Gobi, #1)
56
" Listen to yourself,”Dad said. “You’re about to burst into tears. Stop this nonsense right now.”
“Get your hands off me, I said!"
When his hand reached for me again, I punched him in the mouth.
Dad took a step back, blinking at me and touching his lip, staring at the blood that his only son had somehow drawn. He looked more startled than hurt or even angry. It was the expression of a man who’d just been informed that, effective immediately, up was down and black was white.
Neither of us said a word.
“Two things,”I said. “First, when I get back to school I’m joining the swim team again. Second, if you ever cheat on Mom again and I find out, I’m going to beat the living shit out of you.”
Dad’s high forehead creased with the tiniest of frowns. “Are you still on that?”
“You lied to us.”
“You don’t know the details.”
“I know I can’t trust you,”I said. “What else do I need to know?”
“I don’t know, Perry. I don’t know who you are anymore.”
“Yeah, well, that makes two of us. "
― Joe Schreiber , Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (Perry & Gobi, #1)
